Mining machine



Feb. 9,1926. 1,572,066'

R. E. BOOKER MINING MACHINE Filed Jan. 11, 1922 shaft is a bevel pinion.

Patented Feb. 9, 1925.

istante nUssnLL n.y Booman, or Wittmann, PENNSYLVANIA.

MINING MAGHINE.

Applicatonled January 11, 1922. Serial No. 528,436. i

E'Q aZZ whom 'it may concern: `1

Re it known thatI, RUSSELL E. Boonen, a citizen et the United States, and a resident of Alllindber, county of Somerset, and State' of lennsylvania, have invented cer-- tain new and 'useful Improvements in Mining;l lllachines;fa1id I do hereby declare the following to be a full7 clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains 'to `make and use the same.

fMy invention relates to: a mining);v ma# Vchine which is adapted to cut or undercut any earthy or mineral materiaheither in mines, quarries, open cuts orelsewhere, but :for the purpose of'ease of description and illustration I will confine myself to its use in connection with a coal mine, and although my machine is adapted to be drivenfby any suitablemotom I will describe and show it herein driven by an electric motor withr` 'switchcontrol My invention in general consists of a machine carried by and balanced or partly balanced upon a pair of wheels mounted onen axle, the machine being provided with a pair of handles adapted -to be grasped by the operator. "The machine mayl be oper-V ated upon the floor or bottom of a mine, although it may 'preferably be mounted upon the usual inclined supporting' board; ai? lin-ding` a smooth surface slightlyinclinefgl dow'invardly toward the cutting, which thus provides a convenient' support upon which it can be easily moved in any manner or direction. The operator, preferably in :i sittingA posture, feeds the machine to the work and to the cut to be made, by holding;

the handles and pushingv the rotating' cut-- ting head of the machine into the material to be cu driving motor of any kind, but in this case I illustrate it as an electric motor, and the machine is provided with an operating-shaft driven by said motor, on the end` of which The bevel pinion meshes with two bevel gear wheels which are arranged on a short shaft substantially at right angles to the operating shaft and said bevel gears are approximately parallel, and when d-riven by the pinion one of these will rotate inv one direction while the other will rotate in the opposite direction. Mounted on each Tbevel gear wheel or formed integral therewith is acatting head or disk Y,providedwith, plurality Q tool hOlillS' The machine is provided with a adapted-to receive and hold cutting` bits ot different shapes, which arerevolved at the` proper speed with the rotation of the bevel gears. @n account ofthe fact that the two bevel gears rotate in opposite directions, the

machine is balanced in opera-tion and has little or no tendency to be pulled sidewise', as would be the case if only one of the cutting disks were used, or if both rotate inthe same direction. This makes the machine very easy tov handlel and the backward or other thrust of the same is little or nothing, as I have` foundl by actual experience that the operator can use this machine without the necessity of using` a wooden chock block attached to his foot, as is customary with other` machines and with reciprocating machinos known as punchers. The operator can handle this machine very easily by his hands alone,`but, if he so desires, he can.

place his foot againstrthe wheel or other i `rari; of the machine te assist m holding or locating.it,-without any danger of 'hurting himself by the backward or other thrust.

The head of my machine is ordinarily ar ranged with the gear wheels horizontal and rotating in opposite directions Yparallel to cach other, but I can also adjust the cutting head tov any angle orto an angle of ninety degrees and thereby use the machine as a channeling machine to cut angularly or ver tically instead of the usual substantially horizontal undercut. I also provide attachn'ients on my machine adapted to drive a boring auger so as to provide a hole in the n'iaterial to be ,won for inserting,` powder, dynamite or othercartridges therein to blow the material down after it has been under?v cut orundercut and sidecut.

My cutting disks are arranged substantiaimuch cleaner work in cutting the coal than other machines heretofore used, and the coall out thereby is coarsely granular and not the usual line powdered cuttings which are not so valuable.

My machine may be run at anyl conven ient speed, but I have found by trialthat one satisfactory speed is with the motor runv ning about 1,900 revolutions per minute and vil..

chine rerv easy to control and steady in its operation. In the norlnal position the cutting,l heads are parallel and substantially horizontal or slightly inclined therefrom in order to nialie an undercut, but if it is de-v sired to inake a side cut or shearingcut, the. set screw 0 loosened, the cutting heads rotated to the proper extent, theset screw re.-

tightened, and the niacliine can be used for channelingl or side cutting', and when the cutting; is done this requires less` poivderoi other explosives to shoot the coal down and irovides a larger proportion'of lurnps and a better quality of inerchantable coal, besides which such shea-ring is required by law in narrow places to prevent blownout shot-s with their attendant danger.

@n account of their lack of balance the operation of prior machines is not so easy, and it is di'liicult to hold thein; .in the coal on account of their tendency to kick back or otherwise, which requires the use of foot blocks or other holders, andthis is particularlvtrue of those of the punching type. Another advantage with this type of inachine is that it is alinost dustless and the cuttings are of large granular size, very similar to those produced by hand-pick Work.

(ein account ofthe construction of the inachiue it is several hundred pouudslighter than the lightest known air machine and practically six hundred pounds lighter than any other electrical,inachine in use.

l have also :found `it suliicient to use a standard tufo-horse power inotor for (lriving uiy inachine, andthe apparatus is convenient and easy to manufacture, easily lubricab ed, and contains few parts and has no conilicated electrical controllers or resistance to ,L- ive trouble, besides which it costs very little for power, and on account. of its conrpactness and lightness easily transported from one place to'another.

l have found by actual practice with iny nia-chine that l can cut a heading into the coal ten i'cet wide. to a depth of four feet iu less than .fifteen minutes, and hare iliade a cross cut nine feetwide to a` depth of three and oneshalf feet in'less than nine minutes.

similar cross cut was inade with this niachine on what is known as a rolh varying .from nothing to about eighteen inches in height and in a hard sulphur bandtliat extended across it freni one inch to three inches thiol', requiringone man thirty minutes, While it n'ould require tiro nien about two hours to do the saine Work by the usual hand inethods.

although l have shown and described iny aoco y iny invention, desire to secure by Letl. .ln `a ruining;l niacliineof the character described, a cutting' head bracket, a short shaft-secured therein, a pair of bevel `gearsv rotatably mounted on opposite ends of said shaft, sa'idshaft rbeing''provided `with anvinternalloil reservoir, a closure therefor, and openings lendingl therefrom to the of said berel gears on said shaft.

2.` lnv a mining? inachine of the character describecha casing with an electric rinotor therein, the n'iotor shaftextending outward lyk therefrom and provided Witli al .slidable pinion adapted to drive a coal cutting' inechanisni when in ,gear therewith, said shaft also having a socket at its outer end, and nieans forsecuring a drill shafttherein.

3. In a mining` machine, a pair of cutting disks each provided with a bevel gear substantially parallel and spaced apart, a bevel pinion adapted toniesh with each gear and' rotate them in opposite directions, a plurality off bits inou'ntedl in the disks and adapted to project outwardlyv therefrom, a closely fitting shield surrounding and en# closing` the gear teeth and moving' parts, uf'hereby dirt and dust is excluded therefronn aV shaft on the opposite ends of which .said cuttingv disks are directly and rotatably mounted, a bracket directly suliporting and secured to said shaft intermediate of Ysaid disks, the inner end of said bracket being tubular, a tubular casing iirwhich said operating` shaft is mounted and on the end of which the tubular inner end of said bracket is rotatably mounted, and means for f-:ecuring said bracket in position on the tubular casing` at any desired angle Il. In a` mining machine, a Wl'ieeledcart, a n'iotor niounted on said cart above the axis of the wheels of the saine and extending rearwardly frein said axis, a casingniountintention, or as` bearings ed on the cart forvvai'dly of said axis, the i signature.

RUSSELL E. y 

